Requiem
by emilocodo
Summary: The Powers That Be wipe out the Senior Partners' army, saving Angel and the gang and bringing back Fred. But for what purpose? Please R&R!
1. Gift

**Disclaimer: **I own none of these characters, except my OC at the end, whose name I have not decided on yet…lol

"Let's go to work," said Angel. A small, insect-like demon flew at him, he gritted his teeth and slashed at it with his sword. It emitted a loud, high-pitched shriek and fell to the cold, wet ground. Angel quickly glanced over to see how his friends were faring. Spike was struggling with a gargantuan cave troll, and Gunn….where was Gunn?

"Gunn!" he yelled. "Gunn?"

"Here, boss." The voice came weakly from somewhere to the left of Angel. "This is…tight…"

At that moment, Angel would have given anything to go to the rescue of his friend, but he knew that to let down his guard would mean instant death.

"_Hell," _he thought. _"We're already dead. We're just still walking and talking."_

As he dodged the slashes of a Groxlar beast, he finally caught a glimpse of Illyria. She was a sapphire whirlwind, her face distorted with grief and fury, her movements quick and deadly. Angel turned his attention from her, back to the insurmountable forces he was facing.

"Can we win this?" he whispered.

"Not bloody likely. But we can die trying," remarked a familiar voice. Angel turned to see Spike grinning at him, his leather coat flying as he whirled and hacked at another faceless demon.

"That's the idea," Angel replied, as he went through the motions of a sword pattern he remembered well, with good reason. His mind flashed back in time, watched as the Angel of the past guided Cordelia through those same movements. _"She was the only thing that made life worth living," _he thought. _"And now she's gone, forever."_

An unearthly, beautiful sound pierced the agony and madness of the endless battle. The two vampires, and a good many of their demon foes, turned their heads in the direction from which the music was emanating. There they saw Illyria, both beautiful and terrible. Her mouth was open, as she sang a battle song of anguish and hopelessness

Spike's face sobered as he said, "This is our requiem."

Angel glanced at the younger vampire. "We will die because we are weak, because we have lost all hope. We have nothing left, and no-one is coming to save the day."

As if in reply to his words, a shining being appeared above the alley. Angel looked up, and into the eyes of Cordelia Chase. With a quaver in her voice, she said, "My last gift to you…my love." She held out her hand, and as Angel reached out to take it, something exploded and he knew no more.

Angel woke up to see Spike a few centimetres away from his face. His vampire reflexes kicked in, and he punched…hard.

"Bloody hell! That hurt!" yelled Spike.

"A-are you okay, Angel?" came a very familiar voice.

"_It can't be her," _thought Angel. He steeled his will and forced himself to sit up. There, standing in front of him, was Fred. Still in Illyria's tight leather costume, but unmistakably Fred. He looked around. He was lying on a bed in medical, at Wolfram and Hart.

"How…what…why?" Angel stammered.

"That's exactly what I said," mumbled Gunn, who was sitting on a bed identical to Angel's, a blood-soaked bandage wrapping his midsection. "Yeah, I'm alive. I really was on fire tonight, hey?"

Angel turned his gaze back to Fred…or at least what he thought was Fred. "You're dead," his voice came softly.

"Well…yeah, I was, until the Powers That Be brought me back."

Gunn cleared his throat. "It turns out the good doctor was lying to us all along. Fred's soul wasn't destroyed in Illyria's resurrection, it was simply displaced. When the PTB stepped in, they blew out Illyria, and gave her body back to it's rightful owner."

"The Powers That Be?" Angel said, a note of disbelief in his voice. "What do they have to with any of this?"

"Everything, apparently," Spike replied. "They've been working against the Senior Partners since you and yours made the move to Wolfram and Hart. And tonight, they finally made their move."

"How do you know all this?" Angel asked the group. "Who told you?"

The doors burst open. A tall, autumn-haired woman strode in to the room. Her features were striking, but there was something unnatural about her, about the set of her mouth and the way the fluorescent light put a gleam on her skin. Her clothing added to this image, she wore a flowing white robe akin to that of a Greek goddess. Her strange blue eyes fixed everyone, and forced them to attend to her words.

"That would be me."

Chapter Two should be up soon, providing I have time to write it. Please review, feedback is good!


	2. Facade

"And you are?" enquired Angel, eyebrow raised.

The golden woman rounded on him. "You would be so bold as to speak to me so, vampire? I could destroy you in a heartbeat."

Angel looked around at his friends. "Looks like we've got Illyria Junior here." Spike smirked and looked the woman up and down. He could tell she was become increasingly more uncomfortable.

"Hell of a lot more golden, though. What's your name, luv?"

The woman gave Spike a look of disdain. "You may call me Jessica. I am representative of the Almighty Powers, and we have some tasks for you, if you think you're up to it."

Angel narrowed his eyes at her. There was something he had to ask, even though he knew he would not like the answer. "Why didn't they send Cordy?"

Jessica once again turned her unnerving eyes on him. "The being you call Cordelia Chase gave her immortality as a Power to save you. She has crossed over to the spirit world, she will not be returning to you."

The electric blue eyes softened, just for a moment. "She loved you," Jessica said simply. "She was a great warrior, even among our mighty people."

Angel bowed his head. His heart felt close to bursting, cold and dead though it may be. "_I cannot let this get the better of me,"_ he thought. _"She will sense my weakness and strike"_. With effort, Angel raised his head and looked at Jessica. _"She almost seems…human."_

"You were human once, weren't you? Before the Powers took you."

Jessica felt a surge of panic rising within her. _"How can he know? He is a mere half-breed. He has no special powers, no great strength or powerful magics." _

"Yes. What is it to you?"

Angel looked to one side, the cogs and wheels in his mind already turning. _"If we could turn her back, what a weapon we'd have. She would have all of the Powers' knowledge…" _ "Just curious. What request did the Powers have for us?"

Jessica raised her chin and prepared to launch into a lengthy speech. "The Powers do not request, rather we instruct. It is not your-"

"Cut to the chase love, we don't need a lecture," Spike interrupted.

Her anger and panic rose even higher. Jessica wanted to destroy this swaggering, conceited vampire, burn him until his body was naught but ash… _"Stop it!" _she thought. _"I have to keep up this façade, they **must** be kept under our thumb. I can't screw up…"_

"We have a task for you. The Wolf, the Ram and the Hart are preparing to strike again. You, our champions-" She barely disguised her disgust for the word. Every time she heard it, it brought with it pain and suffering. "-must bring together this rabble you call the human race and mould it into an army."

Fred, still wearing Illyria's suit of leather, opened her mouth to speak. "Why? I-I mean, do we really need to bring the rest of the world into this?"

"Fred's right," Angel concurred. "We have Buffy and her slayer army."

Jessica's face became angry. "Fools!" she shouted. "Even an army of slayers cannot stand against the Senior Partners' evil! Mark my words, if you try to fight alone, you will fall. And your precious Cordelia won't be around to save you. Even as she uttered these words, she thought _"Stupid, stupid!"_

Spike gave Jessica a speculative look. _"There is definitely something going on under the surface here," _ he thought. _"And I'd really like to find out what"_.

Jessica looked around the tiny room, filled with sparse white medical beds. _"I have to get out of here, I can barely even think straight"_. She once again assumed the role of the imperious deity. "I tire of this idle conversation. We will speak again on the morrow." The autumn-haired Power threw open the doors and swept haughtily out of the room.

Angel and Fred stared wordlessly at each other for a moment. Angel was the first to speak his thoughts.

"Fred, is it possible to build some sort of weapon to make her human again?"

The dark-haired Texan girl turned her eyes upwards, searching her mind for useful information. "Well, I'd need a pretty big surge of energy, which could be produced by tapping into the inter-dimensional void-"

"Fred. Can you do it, yes or no." Usually Angel was reasonably tolerant of Fred's tendency to ramble, but this wasn't something he could afford to make a mess of.

"Yes, I'll get on it straight away."

Angel nodded, and addressed to group. "Good. She knows exactly what's going down, and she's going to enlighten us, one way or another."


	3. Elementary

Jessica tossed and turned, thrashing fitfully in her large, Wolfram and Hart-issue bed. All her muscles tensed as she let out a high pitched whimper.

_Flashback_

A small girl with reddish hair sits in a cramped plane seat, chatting animatedly with a woman sitting next to her – her mother. The cabin starts to shake and shudder. The girl and her mother look uneasy, but soon return to their conversation. Other relatives begin to join in. Suddenly, the plane starts to tremble much more violently. Oxygen masks drop from the panels above the group's heads. The girl's mother begins to pull down the masks, but an overhead locker comes open and she is struck from behind by a metal briefcase. She slumps forward, blood trickling from the back of her head. The girl shakes her, desperately trying to force her back to consciousness. There is an ear-splitting noise, a wrenching squeal. The plane falls towards earth faster and faster. The little girl begins to scream, a high-pitched sound soaring above the chaos surrounding her.

_End Flashback_

Spike woke to the sound of whimpering cries coming from the room next to his. He swung his legs over the side of his newly acquired bed and stretched once.

"Déjà vu all over again," he said to himself, remembering the ghosts that had tormented him during his brief time as a spirit. He walked silently out of his room, closing the door behind him. As Spike approached Jessica's room, he felt a moment of hesitation, as though something was telling him that nothing good would come of this. He shook the feeling off, and kicked Jessica's door off its hinges.

Jessica made a strangled half-scream as the door seemingly exploded. _"They told me these rooms…were soundproof…"_ she thought haltingly. Aloud, she said, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Thought I heard some weird noises, crying-like," Spike said. "Everything OK? Not that I really care, but you're keeping me awake."

Jessica glared at the blond vampire. "Everything's fine. Get out," she flared. _"What the hell am I doing?"_ she thought. _"I'm supposed to be an aloof, icy Power, not a short-tempered little girl!"_

Spike looked at her as though she was a pane of glass and he could see right through her. "You're not what you like to pretend you are, are you? I bet you're not one of the bloody Powers That Bitch at all."

Jessica sighed. She was sick of the pretense, sick of trying to be someone else. The world could just go to hell, are far as she was concerned. "Alright, you win. I am a Power, but the others don't know I'm here. Cordelia and I came up with this plan. The Powers That Be have withdrawn, surrendered to the Senior Partners. We, being only new Powers, didn't want our world taken over by demons. So, Cordelia sacrificed herself, and I came down to steer the Fabulous Four in the right direction. Are you happy now? You can run along like a good little boy, and go spill your guts to Angel."

Spike snorted in disbelief. "That poof? Why would I tell him bloody anything?"

Jessica frowned, perplexed. "But isn't he your leader? The vampire with a soul, the champion?"

"Yeah, but he's also a miserable bastard. And he's not my leader," Spike retorted. "Speaking of, mind telling me what you were wailing about?"

"Nothing. Bad dream. Goodnight." Jessica lay back down on her bed and turned her back on the vampire.

Spike walked over and sat down on the corner of the large bed. Jessica's head whipped around, her eyes dark with fear. "You touch me, and I swear to God I'll-"

"It's your parents, isn't it," he said in an undertone.

Jessica's eyes widened. "How could you know that?" she demanded, her voice rising.

He shrugged. "Elementary. What happened?"

"There was a plane crash. No-one survived, except me and my sister. The Powers took me from the orphanage."

"Where's your sister?"

Jessica felt her temper rising. She rose, pulled Spike off her bed and all but shoved him out of the remnants of her door. "You've officially overstayed your welcome. Get out." She turned to walk back to her bed. As an afterthought she added, "And tell maintenance to get me a new door."

Spike's lips curved in a smile as he sauntered back down the corridor. This was going to be very, very interesting.


	4. Not OK

**A/N: **Short chapter, I know. I wrote this while I was supposed to be studying for a Chinese exam, so reviews will make me feel better when I fail hinthint lol

Winifred Burkle paused to check and recheck her notes, as she worked on perfecting the technological marvel that lay on the smooth, shiny steel bench. The lab was quiet and empty - it was 3 am and Fred's fellow scientists had gone home hours ago. Fred, however, was utterly engrossed in her work - her entire brain was occupied with solving the problems the sophisticated piece of machinery put forward. Her attention was suddenly diverted as she heard a quiet footstep behind her. She turned, half expecting to see a demon advancing upon her. Satisfied that her foe was imaginary, Fred turned back to her work, to find that it was being tossed from hand to hand by Angel. She gave him a look.

"Haven't I asked you to stop doing that?" she asked, exasperated, as she relieved him of the valuable piece of equipment.

"How's the weapon coming along?" Angel enquired, sidestepping the question.

Fred frowned. "Pretty well, except for one very major problem. The magic won't bind to the circuits. It's already a very powerful weapon, but without the spell, it won't…do what you want it to do," she finished lamely.

"You have a problem with making her human?" Angel asked quietly.

Fred squirmed under Angel's piercing gaze. "It's just…I don't know if we should force her to be something she doesn't want to be."

"Fred. The woman…or whatever she is, is playing games with us. The future of the world might depend on what she's keeping secret. I'm not sacrificing that to keep her happy."

Fred looked aside and nodded once. "I'll try to fix it," she whispered.

"Good. That's good," Angel said uncomfortably. Fred turned her eyes back down to her diagrams and fiddled with a piece of circuitry. After an embarrassing pause, she looked back up at Angel. "W-was there something else you wanted?"

"Actually, yes. How…how are you?"

Fred gave Angel a confused look. "Um…I'm fine, thanks…h-how are you?"

"I meant, about…Illyria, and Wes, and everything."

Fred's blood ran cold. She had been trying, ever since she was magically resurrected, to erase the past few months from her mind. At the mention of Illyria's name, a wave of emotions and feelings assaulted her. Anger, pain, grief…love. She had loved Wesley so much, and now he was gone. As he lay dieing, she was forced to watch, a helpless spirit stranded outside her body. Forced to watch that blue demon bitch assume her face and play her part. Fred gave Wesley her soul, and yet it was Illyria who held him as his gave up the struggle.

"Fred? Are you okay?"

"_No!" _she wanted to scream. _"No, I'm not okay! I'll never be okay!" _But she forced a smile, and nodded, while hot tears threatened to stream down her cheeks. She tried to walk away, but tripped over the table and fell into Angel's arms. She couldn't hold on anymore. She cried and cried, Angel holding her tight, until she had no more tears left.

Jessica lay on her bed, her silent grief echoing in her mind. Her recent conversation with Spike had opened up all the old wounds again. She felt the pain of watching her family die, and the confusion and betrayal of her sister's rejection. _"I'm a Power!" _she thought. _"I'm not meant to feel like this…"_ But still she couldn't stop the flow of memories. Memories of screaming at her mother to wake up. Memories of her tough older sister leaving her sitting in an alleyway. Happier memories, of ascending to become one of the Powers That Be. Jessica still didn't know why they had chosen her. Maybe she had some higher purpose. Maybe this was her purpose, to save the world that she both loved and hated so much.


	5. Curiouser and Curiouser

**A/N: **Sorry it's been ages since the last update! I've just had no time to do...anything, really. Well, here's chapter five! Enjoy

Jessica walked quickly and apprehensively down the long Wolfram and Hart corridor. She drew back into a doorway as a chattering pair of demons passed, then continued on her way. She pulled a small, crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket, and frowned at the markings on it. She was getting closer. All she had to do now was make sure no one saw her, and she would be fine.

* * *

Spike grinned as he sauntered down the same corridor. Wolfram and Hart employees made no pretence of their fear of the vampire - as he walked, an invisible passage was created for him. He made the same journey he had made many time before - the journey to the training room. He approached the double doors, ready to practice his dramatic entrances, when a sudden movement caught his eye. He looked through one of the many windows surrounding the room, being very careful not to be sighted by whoever was inside. Spike's eyes widened, as he saw Jessica attacking a training dummy with one of Angel's gleaming swords. He dimly remembered Peaches complaining about a missing rapier…

"Well now," he murmured. "Beautiful _and_ bad, what a bloody combination!" The hair on the back of his neck suddenly prickled; he ducked swiftly out of sight as Jessica looked straight at the place he had been standing.

* * *

Jessica was breathing hard by the time she returned the sword to Angel's office. She smiled broadly as she was suddenly filled with a sense of euphoria. She had actually managed it! Her forehead creased momentarily as the feeling of being watched returned to her. She turned and surveyed the office. _"I'm going insane," _she thought. _"There's no one here, no one is watching me!" _With a sigh of frustration at her own paranoia, she stormed out the door and collided painfully with Spike. Jessica groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I should have known it would be you. I suppose you were watching me at the training room as well?" Inadvertently, she blushed, drawing a self-satisfied smirk from Spike.

"Yeah. Pretty good, for a beginner. Mind telling me why you were there, pet?"

Jessica looked daggers at him. "Well, the thing is, I'm not really in the habit of giving obnoxious vampires with ridiculous hair information about my personal life. The moral of the story is…none of your business!" Once again, those uncontrollable urges rose up in her. Urges to burn and kill and fight…

"Let me guess, learning how to fight is part of your mysterious plan?"

Jessica resigned herself to the interrogation. _"Why can't I hide anything from him?"_ she thought.

"Yes," she replied with a sigh. "Except the learning part isn't going too well."

Spike gave her a funny look. She knew that look, it was the one that signalled when he was about to say something totally unexpected. "Here's a twist. I'll teach you."

Jessica was taken aback. "You? Teach me? You really do have a high opinion of yourself."

Spike ground his teeth, and gave her another look, this one edged with annoyance. "Yes or no?"

"No. I don't need your help."

"Fine. Be a stubborn, arrogant bitch. God, you're like a bloody clone of the Slayer!" Spike hissed.

"Good, I guess that means I'll be kicking your ass sometime soon!"

Spike stalked away, shooting a venomous glare at Harmony as he passed her desk. Harmony looked around at Jessica with a puzzled expression on her face. "What's wrong with Blondie Bear?"

"The vampire has become perturbed," Jessica replied, still glaring at Spike's retreating back. "I suggest you do not attempt to approach him, otherwise he may name-call you to death." She strode away in the opposite direction, still muttering to herself. Harmony shook her head, and returned to her work. _"Curiouser and curiouser…"

* * *

_

Jessica lay like a statue in her large bed, the movement of her eyeballs signalling her deep sleep. She dreamed…

_The door loomed, large and murky, as she approached. She opened it onto a scene of horror and slaughter. Red splashed of blood on the walls, the mutilated body of Charles Gunn in the centre of the room. She crossed to the corpse, taking care not to disturb it. His mouth was open, signalling his pain and terror, and his eyes…were full of bewilderment and surprise. He knew the person who attacked him. A menacing hiss behind her alerted her to the demon's presence behind her. She turned…_


End file.
